1st Anavar Cycle Log

[Tubesocks]

Hey all, I've decided to start logging my Anavar cycle on here. Any advice is always appreciated, and also hope this helps anyone looking for var cycle results. This is my first cycle. I started the cycle two weeks ago. Here is my background....

Female
5'7"
136 lbs
20% bf

I follow a low carb clean keto diet. My macros are 60 protein/30 fats/ 10 carbs. I have a refeed carb meal every Friday following my workout. A general day goes like this...
M1: 2 whole eggs 6 egg whites
M2: Hydrobolic FX protein 1 tblsp natty pb
M3: 6 oz chicken breast in olive oil with 25 almonds
M4: 6 oz red meat or salmon with green salad and olive oil dressing
M5: Hydrobolic FX protein 1 tblsp natty pb

I also take fiber supplements (to poop), omega 3, and acidophilus (to avoid yeast infection from var)

[Tubesocks]

My workout schedule runs like this...

Monday: chest/back/abs
Tuesday: arms/shoulders
Wednesday: legs/abs
Thursday: rest
Friday: fullbody workout before refeed
Saturday: lagging body parts
Sunday:rest

I do 20-30 minutes of cardio 4 days per week

[Tubesocks]

I began taking var 5 mg per day split into two doses in the am and pm. I remained at the 5 mg dose for the first week to check for sides. I didn't notice any sides the first week. I had very slight gains in my workouts toward the end of the first week. The second week I have upped my dose to 10 mg per day again split in the am and pm. My muscles have started to feel tighter and more of a pump while working out. I do not have any painful pumps I have read about on other threads as of yet... As far as sides go it seems my little man in the boat is slightly more sensitive. Not much. No other sides.

[Tubesocks]

168447

Here are some before pics.

?s... I'd like some opinions on cycle length for 1st cycle. I'm thinking about doing at least 8 weeksand maybe up to 10 depending on sides. I wasn't going to do any PCT, didn't think women needed to. Also should I taper down the end or just stop?

[sassy69]

Diet looks good (tho I didn't calculate the total cals, etc.) and looks like you've got a good plan. Frankly you can run it easily 10-12 weeks.

The only suggestion I have is split up your muscle groups so you' aren't doing all of your upper body on back to back days - I'd suggest splitting them up w/ the leg day between them.

Is there a particular goal for this cycle?

[Tubesocks]

My total calories are between 1600 and 1800 on my low carb days. My refeed day they are usually about 2500 but I'm still eating clean carbs on that day. Im looking to add more lean body mass. I will swap leg day with my arm shoulder day. Good call. My shoulders get sore from chest day sometimes. Overall, I have noticed I'm not getting very sore though. I lift until failure. Heavy weight 3 sets of 6-10 reps. Not sure why...I like being sore.

[sassy69]

My total calories are between 1600 and 1800 on my low carb days. My refeed day they are usually about 2500 but I'm still eating clean carbs on that day. Im looking to add more lean body mass. I will swap leg day with my arm shoulder day. Good call. My shoulders get sore from chest day sometimes. Overall, I have noticed I'm not getting very sore though. I lift until failure. Heavy weight 3 sets of 6-10 reps. Not sure why...I like being sore.

Speaking as a veteran of the gym (> 30 yrs), the repetitive motion damage & overtraining will fuck you up good in your smaller joints/ligaments/tendons as you get older, so its really important to pay attention to your recovery times. Just because you aren't sore doesn't mean its not working. The drugs can also make this dangerous because they improve recovery, but can also mask existing issues. Since you can't stay on drugs forever, you have to pay attention to the weakest links in the chain - not all soft tissue structures are going to be supported by the drugs but you are asking all of them to take the work load. I would also be careful about the 'lifting to failure" all the time. The whole thing is an effort to build over time and not beat the shit out of yourself every time because the body can't maintain that if you plan to lift for many years. You might explore a periodization approach,

[Tubesocks]

Starting my 3rd week on var this week. Scale hasbeen remaining about the same. My stomache looks to be getting a little leaner. Worked out this morn. Chest/back/abs. Started to be able to complete sets of 10 and still had more to go so I added 5-10 lbs to each excercise today. Nice strength increases. Not much of a pump today. Seems I mostly get a pump when doing bis and tris.

[Tubesocks]

I think I should clear up my lift to failure comment. I don't perform each excercise this way. I have been doing this recently with the larger lifts such as bench, inclined bench, and shoulder presses. I do not squat, deadlift, or do all of the accessory excercises to failure. Do you think I'm beating myself up and should not do any of these to the point of failure? I do not want to kill myself in anyway though, I'm 36 and have never had any body issues yet....Knock on wood;) I googled periodization. Is that kinda like adding variety as far as excercises, reps, and weight. This I do so I don't get used to a workout. I just started the routine I laid out on here about 4 weeks ago. I was doing 6 days a week onebody part a day, but it was wearing me down.

[sassy69]

Starting my 3rd week on var this week. Scale hasbeen remaining about the same. My stomache looks to be getting a little leaner. Worked out this morn. Chest/back/abs. Started to be able to complete sets of 10 and still had more to go so I added 5-10 lbs to each excercise today. Nice strength increases. Not much of a pump today. Seems I mostly get a pump when doing bis and tris.

I also get sick pumps on bi or tri day .. SICK pumps... Listen to your body in terms of each muscle's performance and treat each muscle group as its own - meaning don't expect the same reaction or seek to achieve the same reaction from every group as your goal. I know we all love that pump feeling, but per my previous note, when you're young and feeling indestructible it's hard to slow down when you feel great - Anyone who has been around the iron for a while can tell you particularly the smaller joints and insertions of your arms: wrists, forearms / elbows / shoulders-rotator and all the insertion points to them are all the first place where tendonitis shows up. These are the areas of the fun lifts where you get the easy pump and get to show off your peaks and horseshoe - however these are also the joints, ligaments and tendons that we use in everyday life (particularly things like being a computer jockey as so many of us are these days) as well as supporting structures to the larger muscle groups we use for even heavier lists --> overtraining, repetitive motion injury. Just something to keep in mind as over time you will start to see what I'm talking about. I started lifting in 1981 and got into it much more seriously in the late 80s, and experienced my first really bad round of tendonitiis in my right forearm in 1992. I've done a boatload of PT work over the years , but its just part of the game, particularly if you are doing many years of per-muscle group type traiining. These muscles will grow even if you just stuck to the main compound movements (push/pull/press) - you really don't need a lot of auxiilliary work on them to get results.

This whole item is just a note as you are building your overall splits and general approaches.

[sassy69]

I think I should clear up my lift to failure comment. I don't perform each excercise this way. I have been doing this recently with the larger lifts such as bench, inclined bench, and shoulder presses. I do not squat, deadlift, or do all of the accessory excercises to failure. Do you think I'm beating myself up and should not do any of these to the point of failure? I do not want to kill myself in anyway though, I'm 36 and have never had any body issues yet....Knock on wood;) I googled periodization. Is that kinda like adding variety as far as excercises, reps, and weight. This I do so I don't get used to a workout. I just started the routine I laid out on here about 4 weeks ago. I was doing 6 days a week onebody part a day, but it was wearing me down.


These are just guidance points as you start to develop your longer term approach. There are a million different ways to put together a training split. I like the idea of periodization because it makes you think in the long term when you look at what you are doing. If you've just been doing this split for the last 4 weeks, great - listening to your body, you might change up your program on a 6-8 week interval and switch up a la periodization. I personally like active recovery where if you're combining 2 muscle groups per day, on your repeat schedule, lift one muscle group heavy, the second light, and the next repeat of that day, do the second heavy and the first light. Again, many different ways to change up your split, but just wanted to call this out ahead of where you are going - both w/ the cycle and stacking up upper body days back to back - a long lifting life is about managing gains with sufficient intervals of recovery to allow your body to go longer w/ less injury or burnout.

[Tubesocks]

I've read through your posts a couple of times now. Thanks for all the insight. I've never read much or even thought much about things such as tendonitis. I'm glad to have these things brought to my attention earlier than too late. It's easy to want to push too much, especially on a cycle when you want to make the most of it. The whole goal here is to make my body better both now and in the long term. Work out smarter not necessarily harder. I am certainly going to do a lot more reading into periodization...

[sassy69]

I've read through your posts a couple of times now. Thanks for all the insight. I've never read much or even thought much about things such as tendonitis. I'm glad to have these things brought to my attention earlier than too late. It's easy to want to push too much, especially on a cycle when you want to make the most of it. The whole goal here is to make my body better both now and in the long term. Work out smarter not necessarily harder. I am certainly going to do a lot more reading into periodization...

These are ideas to incorporate over time - dont want to make it like you need alter everything you're doing - but the little supports you can incorporate into your overall program will lengthen your liftng career!

[Tubesocks]

Hungry today. Today is a low fat day in my diet. I do low days once or twice a week. Today the diet looks like this....
M1: 8 egg whites
M2: Hydobolic FX whey mixed with iced coffee (no pb)
M3: chicken breast with asparagus (no oil)
M4: Hydrobolic FX whey mixed with iced coffee (no pb)
M5: talapia with green salad and mustard

Leg workout today after work....

[Tubesocks]

I switched my leg workout to Tuesdays to split up upper body workouts. Leg workout went great. I did start to notice getting small muscle cramps in my hamstrings and even in my chest just from getting up off a machine. I've heard suplementing either taurine, potassium, or magnesium could help this. I drink about a gallon of water a day. I will def look into this before they get worse into the cycle.

[Tubesocks]

Just got back from the gym. Today I worked arms and shoulders. Did some abs and 25 minutes of cardio. Pumps were good. Shoulders are starting to show more definition. I'm starting to notice some veins coming out in my shoulders...very exciting! Time for some whey and peanut butter... :)

[sassy69]

just got back from the gym. Today i worked arms and shoulders. Did some abs and 25 minutes of cardio. Pumps were good. Shoulders are starting to show more definition. I'm starting to notice some veins coming out in my shoulders...very exciting! Time for some whey and peanut butter... :)

awesomesauce!

[Tubesocks]

Rest day today. Weight is staying the same. 136. Will check body fat % this weekend. My face is feeling a little oilier. Usually I have dry skin. No acne anywhere. I've been really hungry the last couple days. Sticking to the diet. I know I've seen people comment that var suppresses the appetite. All I know is I can def eat! My cheat meal is usually Fridays, but pushing it till Saturday this week because we are heading out to eat. Italian:)

[Tubesocks]

Question.... This is my very 1st cycle. I take 10 mg var broken up into am and pm 5mg doses. I have not noticed any sides except for a slightly oily face and cramps during one of my workouts. Should I remain at the 10mg the whole cycle or bump up to 15mg for a week or two of the cycle? Would the 15 mg for a short time make much difference? I also don't want to affect future cycles. I'm interested in opinions and what other females are or have done?

[sassy69]

Question.... This is my very 1st cycle. I take 10 mg var broken up into am and pm 5mg doses. I have not noticed any sides except for a slightly oily face and cramps during one of my workouts. Should I remain at the 10mg the whole cycle or bump up to 15mg for a week or two of the cycle? Would the 15 mg for a short time make much difference? I also don't want to affect future cycles. I'm interested in opinions and what other females are or have done?

There are no hard rules - if you want to try it increased, try it. For 2 weeks its not really going to make a big difference except to tell you how you respond to more. Depending on your body chemistry & the compound you're using, tryign it is really the only way to know. You may find that 10 or 15 is the better sweet spot for you.

[Tubesocks]

Today is officially three weeks on cycle. I can tell my body os starting to lean out. Veins are starting to come out, especially a lot during my workouts. I have added 10 lbs more weght to all my excercises. Muscles haven't seemed to increase in size as much. They seem a little flat and I think that has a lot to do with the low carbs. This week I am going to add a small adjustment to my diet. I am going to add small carbs immediately following my workouts. Prob in the form of one or two brown rice cakes. I'll see how this helps me look fuller. Today Iam working on lagging body parts. I will work my shoulders and glutes plus go for a run outside. Cheat meal for dinner! Will post pics this coming week for progress....

[sassy69]

Keep at it!

[Tubesocks]

I changed my diet up a little. Lowering my daily fat, added an extra serving of spinach, and added small carbs after my workouts. Weight on the scale is at 140 now. Body fat % is down 1%. Strength increases have been great. I added 15 more pounds to my lat pulldowns and low rows yesterday. Energy st the gym is up. Face isa little more oily and I did get two pimples. So far all good!

[sassy69]

Keep at it!

[Tubesocks]

Thanks Sassy! I did my leg workout today. Lately, once I get to the gym and start lifting I feel like I could go forever. Workouts have felt great. Diet has been great. I keep track of all my calories and macros with My Fitness Pal. Super easy to track. About to eat some flank steak. Will post pics tomorrow...

[sassy69]

For future reference, you might give a littl extra consideration to good warmups since the drugs are supporting muscular hypertrophy but not necessarily doing anything for the weaker links in the chain - joints, tendons, ligaments. You might not feel it now, but when you come off and the var clears your system, you may be more aware of any tendonitis or remnant of the parts of yoru body that weren't able to fully absorb the inevitable increase in the weights you are working with. Good practice to add a little warm up - I'm going to say particulary on upper body since the smaller joints like shoulder / rotator cuff, elbows, wrists are usually the sites of the first tendonitis most lifters experience.

[Tubesocks]

Absolutely! Since your posts I have spent a good amount of time reading up on tendonitis and pain associated with repetitive heavy lifting bodybuilders get. The last week I have been making sure to warm up and stretch before lifting. I was even considering adding a stretch day on one of the rest days.

[Tubesocks]

Here are some pics from today.... I'm currently 3 1/2 weeks into my var cycle. Arms are starting to get stronger, awsome pumps whrn working out. I'm starting to see some vascularity in my shoulders and arms which I never had before.169061169062

[sassy69]

Welcome to the Gun Show!

[Tubesocks]

Tommorow is four weeks now. I'm thinking of starting a two week cycle of clen with the anavar cycle. I've run the clen before and it did a good job with me. I do get some shakes and headaches with it. I'll split it into two 20 mg doses for two weeks on. I can't seem to handle a higher dose than that or I start feeling bad and it effects my workout.

[sassy69]

Tommorow is four weeks now. I'm thinking of starting a two week cycle of clen with the anavar cycle. I've run the clen before and it did a good job with me. I do get some shakes and headaches with it. I'll split it into two 20 mg doses for two weeks on. I can't seem to handle a higher dose than that or I start feeling bad and it effects my workout.

Please see the section on Clen: http://forums.rxmuscle.com/showthread.php?114136-Women-amp-Drugs

2 weeks at low dose is mostly a waste for the effort and any "results" will most likely come out in the wash, particularly for the stress it adds to your body (i.e. cortisol -> fat retention). You're welcome to do it, but if you're going to bother, I'd run a longer cycle. Clen is one of those things that IMO only works if you're already running a tight diet and it will support that. If you're not running an ultra tight diet, IMO its not worth the stress it adds w/ the tension headaches & shakes. Also if you do run it, be sure to supplement w/ L-Taurine to help w/ cramping.

[whitelily]

Hi tube socks your doing great! I don't recommend using the clen. There are other options and you have not been on anavar long enough to see what you can do on your own. I recommend using the HIIT method or sprints in the park. I shed fat in my second month using anavar
first month 10mil 1.5 month 12 mil 2 months 15 milligram . sprints 3 x per week I found gave me better leanness than clen. I continued to lose weight even a few weeks after using clen and got down to dangerous low weight. This is not a drug I recommend taking unless your competing and must get leaner than you normally would .

[Tubesocks]

Ok. I will hold off on the clen. Do you guys have any suggestions seeing my diet on ways to tighten it up or even completely change it. I'm always open to a better diet. One more thing (this might be too much info) but I can't tell you the last time I went to the bathroom....deuce. I've been taking a fiber supplement too. What can I change about that? Maybe I'm eating too much protein....150-200g and too little fat which varies from 50-150g depending on lowfat days...

[sassy69]

Here's a short article/Q&A that discusses the need for fiber in a keto-style diet:
http://www.space.com/19195-night-sky-planets-asteroids-webcasts.html

You might find some places in your diet to add more vegetables, and maybe look at a different fiber supplement. One easy way I've been getting more Vit C in my diet is putting my whole eggs + egg whites in the blender w/ 1-2 cups of fresh spinach. I would be careful w/ broccoli / kale / cauliflower as those I would include digestive enzymes w/ to help break down more efficiently. Another alternative for more vegetables in a keto diet is using a Greens powder. You can get decent ones at most health food stores or Whole Foods.

[Tubesocks]

I read that too much fiber can actually have a reverse effect and block things up. I have been eating 2 cups of baby spinach everyday with my lunch and dinner, sometimes asparagus or green beans with dinner. Also taking a fiber supplement everyday for the recommended dose. I read that I should start taking a probiotic, add green tea regularly, and also maybe add some ground flax seed to my shakes. I will try this out. Otherwise, arms and legs are shaping up nicely, just feel really bloated in my stomache and need to get that back down. Gym today to work lagging body parts and then an outdoor run. I will try some sprints after my run today.

[sassy69]

Nice work!

[Tubesocks]

Thought I'd post some pics. The first is me in Feb 2014. The second is me today. Believe it or not in the Feb pic I still went to the gym 5 times a week and worked out similar to what I do now. My diet was way off though. Low protein and high carbs plus I went out drinking a bit. Now diet is so much better and I cut out alcohol.169323169324

[sassy69]

Diet diet diet diet diet diet.

[Tubesocks]

I changed my workout around yesterday. I'm going to follow a workout I found on the bodybuilding.com website. The split is as follows;
Mon. Chest/abs
Tues. Arms
Wed. Legs/abs
Thurs. Shoulders
Fri. Back/abs
Sat. Circuit light weight
The workout has me doing 4-5 sets of an excercise using the pyramid scheme. I start with a lighter weight at 15 reps and end with a heavier weight at 8-10 reps. Before I was lifting mostly heavier with 3 sets at 6-10 reps. I've done two of the workouts so far and can feel the difference switching up the workout. Diet has been good. Weight is at 138. I've been doing longer cardio since the weather isnicer and I can go outside and run. I dislike cardio very much, but I do it... Lifting weights is where the fun is!

[sassy69]

Welcome to Universal Chest Day!

[Tubesocks]

Lol. What is universal chest day? Does everybody seem to do chest on Monday...

[sassy69]

lol. What is universal chest day? Does everybody seem to do chest on monday...

everyone!

[Tubesocks]

The change up in my workout has kicked my butt this week. I've def been feeling the workouts. Today I did a circuit 3 times through with no rest in between sets. 1st time I've done a circuit. It tires you out and is a good way to get your heart rate up. Strength gains are constantly going up. Feels great to be able to do a set of tricep push downs using more weight than the guy next to me doing them:) I can't wait til the var cycle is over to do a good cut and see all the changes. My boyfriend grabbed my side yesterday and told me my side had muscles on top of muscles. Lol. Things are really starting to feel rock hard.

[Tubesocks]

Yesterday was chest day. My chest is really sore today. I realized yesterday that I have added 35 lbs to my bench press in the last 5 weeks. That is not my one rep bench either, but to my regular sets. I started a different diet this week. I was doing the keto, but started to have trouble just getting out of bed. I was feeling drained. I am eating carbs, higher carbs toward the start of the week and tapering the carbs down toward the end of the week. I also changed my cardio up. I started doing 4 minutes of tabata cardio followed by 20-25 minutes of steady pace cardio. The tabata is tough. 4 minutes doesn't sound like much, but if you really give it your all it will really kick your butt.

[sassy69]

Tabatas are fucking brutal, I feel your pain!

Keto definitely needs sufficient carb ups. I've really enjoyed my long running keto diets, but IMO it takes a toll on muscle over long term. It has its place in the arsenal of diet phases, but generally carb rotations have been my go-to. I would suggest maybe fine-tuning your carb intake to when you use the carbs. I don't know your current split, but I would put them on your heavy/ major lift days and lighter on accessory / cardio / rest days.

[Tubesocks]

Yes, tabatas are brutal. Today I did a tabata style ab routine before my cardio. I did 4 minutes tabata of ab rope crunches, 4 minutes of planks, followed by 4 minutes of slaloms. Killer! I highly recommend anyone who hasn't tried tabata to download a tabata timer ap on your phone and try it out.

[More weight]

Tubesocks, how are you doing? I've been following your log and wonder how the var has treated you in the last week and a half? I am wanting to try a cycle myself but am still in the "research phase". LOL :dunno:

[Tubesocks]

So far everything has been going great. Workouts are going really good. Pumps are getting a little more during the workouts. Yesterday while training chest my chest and shoulders were killing me toward the end of the workout. Icve noticed alot more vascularity. I have switched up my diet abd workouts alot. I am now cycling carbs. I am also working out completely different and with only 30 second rests. This past week I have noticed a huge increase in my appetite. Trying to stay on diet. Weight is at 140 right now. Sides are good. Just a little more oily hair. I get a couple (meaning one or two) pimples on my shoulders. Otherwise all is great. Looking to post alot of photos at end of cycle.

[More weight]

So far everything has been going great. Workouts are going really good. Pumps are getting a little more during the workouts. Yesterday while training chest my chest and shoulders were killing me toward the end of the workout. Icve noticed alot more vascularity. I have switched up my diet abd workouts alot. I am now cycling carbs. I am also working out completely different and with only 30 second rests. This past week I have noticed a huge increase in my appetite. Trying to stay on diet. Weight is at 140 right now. Sides are good. Just a little more oily hair. I get a couple (meaning one or two) pimples on my shoulders. Otherwise all is great. Looking to post alot of photos at end of cycle.

Awesome!!! I can not wait to see the progress.

[More weight]

Tube, where are you? How's things going?
Started my cycle and updated my log.
Just checkin in on you.


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[Tubesocks]

Is your log on here? I will have to follow it. I finished my cycle last week. The last week of my cycle I was so hungry. I know I have read that var is suppose to help with your appetite...but I wanted to eat! I stuck to the macros though. Cycle went great. The biggest thing wad the increase in strength and recovery. I was never sore. This week I am sore but still have strenght. I lost three pounds this week. I think it might be some water. I am going to post pics at the enf of the week to show beginning and now. Feeling great. I will def be doing another cycle. I have read you should wait the same amount of time off as you were on....so ten weeks...

[More weight]

Yea!!! Glad you found me!!! Lol. I have not found the appetite suppressant side of it yet. Lol. I would like that please. Ha!!


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